Generally, a clothes dryer serves to dry an object to be dried by absorbing moisture inside the object by blowing blast generated by an electric heater or a gas heater into a drum. According to a method for processing humid air generated when drying the object, the clothes dryer is largely classified into an exhaustion-type clothes dryer and a condensation-type clothes dryer.
According to the exhaustion-type clothes dryer, humid air exhausted from the drum is exhausted out of the clothes dryer. However, required is an exhaustion duct for exhausting moisture evaporated from inside of the drum to outside. Furthermore, since products generated after combustion, such as carbon monoxide, is also exhausted out, the exhaustion duct has to be installed with a length long enough to be extended to the outdoor.
According to the condensation-type clothes dryer, humid air exhausted from the drum is condensed by a heat exchanger thus to have moisture removed therefrom. Then, the dried air is re-sent into the drum for re-circulation. However, since flow of the dried air forms a closed loop, using gas as a heat source is not easy.
In order to solve the problems of the exhaustion-type clothes dryer and the condensation-type clothes dryer, a ductless clothes dryer has been proposed. More concretely, the ductless clothes dryer can be maintained with low costs by using gas as a heat source. Furthermore, an additional exhaustion duct extended to the outdoor with a long length is not required.
FIGS. 1 to 3 are views schematically showing a clothes dryer in accordance with the conventional art. The conventional clothes dryer comprises a body 110; a drum 120 rotatably installed at the body 110; a blast supply unit 140 for supplying hot air into the drum 120; a heat exchanger 150 for removing moisture included in air exhausted from the drum 120; a duct 180 for guiding air exhausted from the drum 120 into the heat exchanger 150; and a filter 200 installed at the duct 180, for filtering lint included in air exhausted from the drum 120. A door 111 through which clothes is introduced into the drum 120 is installed on a front surface of the body 110. And, inside the body 110, installed are a belt 131 for rotating the drum 120, and a motor 135 for providing a driving force to the belt 131. A pulley 137 for winding the belt 131 is installed on a shaft of the motor 135. The drum 120 is a box having an inner space into which an object to be dried, such as clothes, is introduced. A plurality of lifters 121 for lifting clothes are installed in the drum 120.
The clothes dryer shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is a ductless clothes dryer. However, other types of clothes dryer having a difference from the ductless clothes dryer may be implemented. For instance, the exhaustion-type clothes dryer does not require a heat exchanger for removing moisture included in air exhausted from the drum 120.
The clothes dryer comprises a filter 200 for filtering lint included in air exhausted from the drum 120. The filter 200 is generally installed on a front surface of a body of the clothes dryer. More concretely, as shown in FIG. 1, the filter 200 is installed below a door mounting position of the body of the clothes dryer.
The filter 200 is composed of a lint filter 310 having a mesh portion, and a cover filter 320 disposed above the lint filter and coupled to the lint filter. FIG. 4 shows the lint filter 310, whereas FIG. 5 shows the cover filter 320.
The lint filter 310 consists of a mesh portion 310a formed at a central part thereof, and an edge portion 310b configured to encompass the mesh portion 310a. The cover filter 320 is provided with holes 320a at an upper part thereof. The cover filter 320 is coupled to an upper surface of the lint filter 310, thus to be mounted to a front surface of the body of the clothes dryer. And, the air exhausted from the drum 120 flows to a lower side of the cover filter 320 through the holes 320a formed at an upper part of the cover filter 320, i.e., flows towards the lint filter 310. And, while passing through the mesh portion 310a of the lint filter 310, lint included in the air is filtered.
FIG. 6 shows the inside of the clothes dryer, in which the lint filter 310 and the cover filter 320 are coupled to each other to be mounted to the clothes dryer. And, FIGS. 7A to 7C are enlarged views of a first duct 210, a second duct 220, and the lint filter 310.
Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the lint filter 310 and the first duct 210 are mounted so as to be adhered to each other, thereby preventing leakage of lint therebetween. The flow of the air exhausted from the drum 120 will be explained. The air having high-temperature and high-humidity and including lint therein flows downwardly through the holes 320a formed at an upper part of the cover filter 320, thereby being positioned between the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310. Then, the air is exhausted to a space between the first and second ducts 210, 220 via the mesh portion 310 of the lint filter 310. Here, the air can pass through a gap of the mesh portion 310a of the lint filter 310, whereas lint included in the air can not pass through the gap thus to be collected to a space between the lint filter 310 and the first duct 210. And, the air having lint removed therefrom flows to a blowing fan through a discharge passage 230 of the first duct 210, via a space between the first and second ducts 210, 220.
In order to effectively remove lint included in the air exhausted from the drum 120, a sealing process between the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310 has to be executed more effectively. However, since the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310 do not have a perfectly sealed state therebetween, lint may be discharged out through a gap therebetween. The reasons why the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310 do not have a perfect sealed state are as follows.
Firstly, the lint filter 310 is formed of plastic, whereas the first duct 210 where the lint filter 310 is installed is formed of an iron plate. Due to the materials different each other, it is not easy to fabricate the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310 in the same shape.
Secondly, as shown in FIG. 7, the first duct 210 has to be provided with a round-shaped protrusion 320 so as to mount a cabinet cover thereon. This may cause a gap 330 to be generated between the first duct 210 and the lint filter 310.
In the clothes dryer, it is important to remove lint by the filter. Accordingly, if the clothes dryer operates in a state that the filter for removing lint has not been mounted therein, lint is accumulated on a passage inside the clothes dryer. This may degrade the function of the clothes dryer. However, the conventional clothes dryer is not provided with means to inform a user whether the filter has been mounted to a precise position or not. In this case, the clothes dryer may operate in a state that the filter has not been mounted therein.